Peanut the squirrel, the Instagram-famous rodent whose killing by New York State environmental officers became a brief election flashpoint, did not have rabies after all, officials have said.

Peanut the pet squirrel, who was a social media star before being seized by authorities in upstate New York, tested negative for rabies after being euthanized, a county official said Tuesday.

Peanut, the social media star squirrel at the center of a national furor after it was seized from its owner in upstate New York and euthanized, has tested negative for rabies, a county official said Tuesday.